'A diabolical test': Beastly Kiawah Island awaits world's elite at USPGA Championship

[ASFN Admin]

Bryson DeChambeau has ramped up the build-up for the USPGA Championship by predicting that The Ocean Course - the longest in major history - will be “a diabolical test”. And to hear the PGA Tour’s longest driver ever saying this about the longest major ever would have been music to Pete Dye’s ears. Dye, the architect of South Carolina's most famous layout, was nicknamed “The Marquis de Sod” and that is apt because he was to golfing turf what Joseph-Ignace Guillotin was to head removal. DeChambeau, that confident character who not only aims to live until he is “130 to 140 years old” but, beforehand, ”to revolutionise this sport”, proved as much with his comments after his practice round on Tuesday. In his role as "Playing Editor, of golf.com", the US Open champion quivered: "I hope this is the most wind we have out here all week." Certainly, Jon Rahm is worried about his cranium here this week at the 103rd USPGA Championship. “I hope they do move the tees up,” the world No 3 said. “Just for the sake of our sanity.” All this would have thrilled Dye. One of his most memorable quotes - and, in truth, there would be enough to compile a chilling compendium - reflected the warped philosophy of this wonderfully eccentric character who sadly passed away in January, 2020, aged 94. “Life is not fair, so why should I make a course that is fair?” he said. “The ardent golfer would play Mount Everest if somebody put a flagstick on top.” The late great English golf writer Peter Dobereiner was a huge fan of his malevolent mischief. “While I have never met Pete Dye, I know him well,” Dobereiner wrote. “He is 500 years old and has absorbed the wisdom of the ages. He has a pointed hat and a flowing robe embroidered with occult symbols. When he speaks, he becomes extremely animated, and gesticulates a lot with flashes of blue static crackling from his long fingernails.” Dye is rightly appreciated in the game as a genius - but as an evil genius. And to be fair to DeChambeau, it is understandable to refer to the 7,876-yarder as Dye’s beautiful Frankenstein. It boasts the most seaside holes in the Northern Hemisphere with 10 hugging the Atlantic, but it is far from a links, with its elevated greens and vicious run-off areas leading to scorecard wastelands and sporting gravelands. In fact, Dye, bless his heart, raised the entire course seemingly to allow golfers unobstructed views. Yet there was wicked madness in his generous method. By design, Dye also made the layout significantly more demanding in the process as it also exposed players to the ocean’s brisk and unpredictable breezes. Those views come at a heavy cost.

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